Why Do Medical Scribes Help Providers?

Your time is your most valuable resource, and it is important for you to make sure you use it wisely. This is particularly true if you work in a hospital, in your own medical practice, or otherwise operate in a direct patient care role. You probably want to maximize the amount of time you spend with your patients, and a medical scribe can help you do so. What are medical scribes, and what are some of the top benefits of medical scribes for providers? 

An Overview of Medical Scribes

A medical scribe is someone who fills out the patient’s chart as the doctor takes a history and conducts a full physical exam. Traditionally, providers fill out the charts on their own either as they conduct a visit or after the visit is finished. Unfortunately, if providers spend a lot of time filling out the patient’s chart, they spend less time interacting with the patient. One of the ways to alleviate this issue is to have a medical scribe with proper clinical training fill out the chart as the visit moves forward. There are several key benefits providers will enjoy if they use a medical scribe.

1. Improved Provider to Patient Engagement

One of the biggest benefits of working with a medical scribe is this allows the provider to see more patients and provide an even better quality of care. The provider can conduct the exam without being hidden behind the computer screen and be able to read the emotions of the patient and respond accordingly. If a medical scribe takes down the visit for you, you can then focus all of your attention on patient care. This can increase patient satisfaction and in turn generate more patient referrals, which will create more revenue opportunities.

2. See More Patients in a Day

If you work with a medical scribe, you can see more patients in a day. Because you can spend less time charting, you can spend more time seeing patients. Even if a medical scribe only saves you 3 minutes per visit, this adds up over the course of 20 or 30 patients. You may be able to see a few extra patients every day, which can generate more revenue for your practice.

3. Shorten Wait Times

If you use a medical scribe, you can also shorten wait times. According to PatientPractice.com, you should be aiming for the fewer-than-10-minute mark, as far as to wait in the waiting room, and then less than 20 minutes from the time the patient is placed in the exam room until they see the doctor/practitioner (not the nurse/tech.) One of the reasons why a patient spends a lot of time waiting is that providers chart in between every visit. If providers don’t have to worry about filling out the chart at the end of the visit, they can immediately move on to the next patient. This can shorten wait times, and it could allow additional slots for walk-in visits.

4. Reduced Provider Stress

Using a medical scribe can also significantly reduce the stress placed on providers. A medical scribe has the training necessary to chart the visit accurately, which could improve billing and coding accuracy. This is one less issue that providers have to worry about. Furthermore,  providers don’t have to worry about rushing through the charting process at the end of the visit because it will already be taken care of. Doctors are under a tremendous amount of stress today, and a medical scribe can take some of this stress off of their shoulders.

5. Better Patient Satisfaction

Finally, working with a medical scribe can also significantly improve patient satisfaction rates. The reality is that patients are happier if they can interact with their providers face-to-face during the visit. If patients feel like their providers are focusing all of their attention on them, they are more likely to be happy with the visit and are more likely to return to that practice in the future. If patients feel like the provider is focusing on the computer screen instead of on them, they are less likely to be satisfied with the appointment. Providers need to work with a medical scribe to improve patient satisfaction rates.

Work With DataMatrix Medical for the Best Medical Scribes

These are just a few of the many benefits of working with a medical scribe. If you want to hire the best medical scribes for your practice, you need to work with DataMatrix Medical. We are proud to be one of the most trusted names in the industry, and it would be our pleasure to work with you to improve the productivity and efficiency of your medical practice. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.